About Pastor Jon J. Hasselbeck

  
I was born and raised in the Buffalo, New York area. At the age of 12 I gave my life to the Lord through a group ministry called The Lay Witness Mission. I was discipled in high school through Young Life. After attending Bethel Christian College in St. Paul, Minnesota I had intended to go on to seminary. However; I felt the Lord lead me to begin work in a secular environment. My training would come from learning to work in the business world which I began to do immediately after graduation and marriage. My wife, Yolande, and I were married in 1982. We now have three wonderful children Joel, Emily and Julie ages 21, 19, and 15.

After graduating I worked in sales and developed my own construction business. It was here in the construction world that I learned to deal with people and overcome problems and adverse situations.

My family and I attended Harris Hill Mennonite Church for 17 years. I was mentored and developed for pastoral ministry by the Senior Pastor, Richard Bender, who was the founder of Bender's Christian Supply. I served as a volunteer on a pastoral team for many years and eventually was asked to become the Senior Pastor. I served as a Senior Pastor of Harris Hill Mennonite Church for five years.

It was about this time that the Lord began to speak to me about planting a church near the University at Buffalo. I began discussions with Pastor Tommy Reid about helping me to plant a church. He indicated he would help me do this but asked me to come on staff at The Tabernacle in Orchard Park first. Over the next 10 years I would be mentored and trained by Pastor Tommy Reid as his Senior Associate Pastor. This was a wonderful time of training for me in the ministry. My job description at The Tabernacle included: staff development and leadership, chairing church board meetings, financial committees, assisting in building programs, management of the day to day business affairs of the church, youth ministry, counseling, outreach, evangelism, and preaching on a regular basis. Most of my training for ministry happened while serving at a local church. I was ordained through both the Mennonite church and a Cov-net which is a nondenominational Christian church network.